Lead with Purpose

CHAPTER 5HOW STRONG PURPOSE MAKES IT SAFE TO FAIL (AS WELL AS TO PREVAIL)

“Fall down seven times, stand up eight times.”

—JAPANESE PROVERB

U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson lived his life so large it would seem natural that it would become a movie. And it did in 2007, in Charlie Wilson’s War, which centered on the most important aspect of Wilson’s political life: providing support to Afghan militia fighting the Soviets in the early 1980s.

Wilson’s political consciousness was formed early. His neighbor, a city councilman in his hometown of Lufkin, Texas, killed young Charlie’s dog because it would not stop digging in the man’s prize flower beds. Thinking big, at least for a youngster, Wilson sought a way to get even with the councilman. Come Election ...